Managing risk is required for farm enterprises to be profitable. Contractual agreements - such as livestock leases - can be crafted to loan or transfer assets, while also sharing risk. The beef cow share agreement is one example that allows individuals with complimentary inputs to benefit from...

One of the main goals of livestock price forecasts is to reduce the risk associated with decisions that producers make. Thus, the producers need instruments that decrease or at least identify the risk, and help the producer's decision. The Lean Hog Futures is a single location where anyone with...

Cattle prices follow a fairly predictable seasonal pattern, therefore it is possible to forecast prices based on the current price and the assumption that history is a predictor of the future.

Predicting Animals in Feedlot That Produce Discounted Carcasses.

This paper compares feedlots that operate on a year round basis and buy feeder cattle and sell fed cattle every month with a common strategy for stock market investors, dollar cost averaging.

In recent years, narrow profit margins in the cattle feeding business have increased the necessity of effectively managing risk, but especially price risk. The live cattle futures market is an effective tool in price risk management; a fact that more Iowa cattle feeders are realizing. Some...

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was an advantage or disadvantage in making feeder pig placement decisions under a DCA method verses placing a constant number of feeder pigs each month.

This paper compares feeder pig operations that operate on a year-round basis with a common strategy for stock market investors, dollar cost averaging.

Non-Basin Technologies for Open Feedlot Runoff: Demonstration, Implementation and Modeling

Many producers question the profitability of backgrounding cattle before selling them. There are many variables tht can be part of a backgrounding program that can potentially impact the profitability of this venture. The purpose of this study was to determine when it is most profitable to...